CORRECTING and REPLACING Companies Must Crack ‘Social’ Customer
Service in Order to Survive

Independent Research commissioned by Conversocial predicts social
customer service technology will become No. 1 investment in 2014, as
brands realize social networks are more than just a marketing tool

CORRECTION...by Conversocial

July 01, 2014 01:34 PM Eastern Daylight Time

NEW YORK & LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Please replace the release with the following corrected version due to
multiple revisions.

The corrected release reads:

COMPANIES MUST CRACK ‘SOCIAL’ CUSTOMER SERVICE IN ORDER TO SURVIVE

Independent Research commissioned by Conversocial predicts social
customer service technology will become No. 1 investment in 2014, as
brands realize social networks are more than just a marketing tool

A commissioned study*, conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of
the leading social customer service platform Conversocial,
reveals a lack of ownership and understanding of social media within
organizations that could see brands fall behind in the overall customer
service stakes. Over half (67%) of companies interviewed believe that
social customer service is growing in importance and is the most
pressing short-term priority for contact centers in the US and UK.
However, only 33% of the social customer service solutions being used by
those interviewed were actually selected by the customer service team,
with the rest being obtained solely for marketing purposes.

Today’s social media users are more demanding than ever of the brands
they know and love when it comes to customer service over channels such
as Facebook and Twitter. As the social landscape evolves, customers are
moving away from traditional communications methods such as email and
phone, and expecting more from the conversations they are having on
social networks. However, the power struggle between the marketing and
customer service departments means that there is currently a disconnect:
businesses are failing to put the right technology in place to support
the complex needs of social customer service.

Here’s what the social customer landscape currently looks like:

Between 2009 and 2012 the number of customers using Twitter for
customer service has doubled to 22%

However, people still rate their experiences via phone, websites,
emails, IM/ SMS over using social channels such as Twitter and
Facebook as a result of poor social media management

People are more satisfied with their experiences on the phone, via
email, or even going to the FAQ section of a brand’s website than
through Twitter or Facebook

35% of social customer service agents have to
restart the conversation with a customer for every single interaction because
they don’t have a record of conversation history

Conversocial Founder and CEO, Joshua March commented: “Businesses need
to realize that social doesn’t just sit with your marketing team
anymore. Social media is a primary customer service channel alongside
email, phone and chat. Our platform alone handles more than 200 requests
per minute and 275,000 requests a day, so brands cannot neglect these
channels. We believe that marketing and customer service departments
should work more closely together. But this comes through real human
relationship – not by siloing social media into a single tool that
doesn’t allow customer service to reach its full potential.”

Delving further into the key differences between all-in-one social media
management tools and dedicated customer service platforms, the report
found that 45% of users of dedicated customer service solutions (such as
Conversocial) rated the productivity and efficiency of their agents as
‘Excellent.’ This compared to those using free solutions (10%) and more
general social media management solutions (8%) where customer service
effectiveness was much lower.

Clare Wilkerson, Head of Multi Channel Strategy at Direct Line stated:
“There are many aspects of social media that make it different from
traditional service channels, the biggest being that it’s so public!
However, when a customer reaches out for help they don’t care about the
channel, they just want a great service experience. Dedicated solutions
allow customer service teams to do what they do best…serve the customer.”

Conversocial is a cloud solution that enables businesses to manage
social media as a large-scale customer service channel. Hundreds of
major brands use Conversocial in the contact center to handle
high-volume customer service through social media in the most efficient
and secure way possible. We cut through the noise of social media to
automatically identify and prioritize customer service issues, with
natural language processing that adjusts to specific industry needs.